Slovakia Files Challenge To EU Migrant Quotas

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico says his government has filed a complaint to challenge a European Union decision to redistribute 120,000 asylum seekers among the bloc's 28 nations.

Fico said the complaint was filed on December 2 and asks the court to rule that the decision taken by a majority vote of EU interior ministers is invalid.

Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Romania opposed the mandatory quotas for redistributing migrants from Italy and Greece but were outvoted at a meeting of EU interior ministers in September.

The EU has struggled to find a common approach on how to deal with a surge in migrants and refugees fleeing conflict and poverty in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.

In related news, police in Macedonia have used pepper spray and stun grenades to repel several hundred migrants who were attempting to cross north into the country from neighboring Greece.

Macedonia is only allowing people from countries facing war -- namely Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq -- to cross from Greece, leaving hundreds of others from countries such as Iran, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and North African nations stranded at the border.